12 in 12 in 2012

I got an idea at the start of December that I've been mulling around in my head for awhile. I've decided to do it and I'm just now getting around to putting my idea out there in writing. Once it's out there I can't turn back.

The idea is to do 12 new creative things in 2012. Thus "12 in 12 months in 2012". Now I could have said I'd do a new thing each month but sometimes, with work, things get away from me and I might not have time to try something one month. So "12 in 12 in 2012" is for learning and/or doing 12 new things throughout the year. Below is a list of some of the things I'm thinking about.

1) latch hook -- I've done one latch hook project over a decade ago so it's not exactly new for me. I've owned 2 kits for awhile and always thought "someday" I'd do them. Well that "someday" will be this year. And once I'm done with the latch hook part I'm going to finish off the project as well. I have too many half-finished projects lying around because I didn't do that last step. No more. Since I've got all the supplies this will be easy to do and I won't have to spend any money to do so.

2) cup cake decorating -- I've been thinking about this a lot lately. When I was little my mother use to make these great cakes and decorate them beautifully. I don't have kids of my own but that doesn't mean I can't try something like that. I have no supplies for this except the pan to make the cup cakes in. I've been looking around for cake decorating tools and I've found some. The problem is money. I wonder if I could just borrow my mom's stuff.

3) bead work -- When we went up to my sister's for Thanksgiving the year before last she took me shopping to a local cross stitch place. On the wall was a finished project that looked beautiful. It was simply the word Joy in big read letters and a green tree to the left. I looked through the racks and found the pattern. Unfortunately the pattern looked duller than the finished piece on the wall. When I looked closer to the project I noticed that it had been done all in beads instead of cross stitch. I thought it was stunning and I've wanted to do that for awhile. Unfortunately I didn't buy the pattern when I was there and I could never find it anywhere else. I told my sister about it and she got me the pattern and some beads so I could work on it. It's a Christmas themed project so if I start it early enough I might be able to get it done before next Christmas.

4) paint by numbers -- I painted a carved toy box that looks like a kids block for my nieces and nephews for Christmas. I filled it up with Happy Mean toys that they also got to unwrap. Even though I found some of it to be a pain in the ass, when I was all finished I missed painting. I found it relaxing and soothing. I wanted to do it again. I'd like to do a Paint-by-number kit so I could have a finished piece of artwork to hang on my wall. I've looked around at some and find them intimidating. I'm going to have to see if I can find something simpler and that I also like. This will require me to shell out some money but since I'm in no hurry I can save up for it.

If I wan to do 12 things I'm a little bit short with this list. I'm sure I'll find other things to do creatively throughout the year. Maybe I'll find so many other things I won't do any of these things on my list. I just don't want to waste another year doing nothing with my life. I might not be able to travel around the world and see a lot of places, but I'm going to try and explore my creativity with doing things right here at home.